The Diamond Project
by That Fable
Summary: Only a few Americans had received beta copies for Sword Art Online, and Brady was one of the lucky few. His skill within the game quickly rises with the help of a friend, Flynn. When bad comes to worse, will he back down within this 'Death Game? Or will he rise to new heights? With the help of some companions, anything is possible. (Accepting OCs, limited time.)
1. Chapter 1

Edit: Jan 31 15 Basically rewrote entire prologue/ chapter, hope you enjoy! :)  
Feb 18 15 Separated dialogue

Prologue:

Brady Grider was only 17 when he had purchased his own set of NerveGear. He purchased his set online, from a website that deals in wares not available in certain regions.

One of the most promising RPG players in North America, from Dark Souls to League of Legends. He had no limits to what he played, anything to escape his harsh reality.

Unlike everyone else in the U.S, and the world, Brady got to beta test Sword Art Online. He had personally written Kayaba asking him if he would send him a copy of the beta.

Kayaba had responded with an astonishingly fast reply, all in English, even though Brady knew Japanese, the letter looked a bit like this;

Dear Mr. Grider, I was pleased to hear how much you would like to beta test Sword Art Online, and would be glad to send you a copy. I must warn you though, SAO is like none other. This is a game of such magnitude, it feels real. SAO is not just another game lining your shelves.

We will speak again, I am sure of it,  
-AK

At the moment, Brady had no idea why he was chosen. Or why she was chosen. All he knew, was the he was to have the time of his life.

Chapter 1: Not so Deadly

Wow, I thought as I read through the letter, he actually wrote to me. I felt extremely special, staring at the package that laid before me on my bed. I had no idea how, or why. But I wasn't worried about that within the current moment.

Taped to the top of the box, with duck tape, was his letter, inside, I found an index card, it had emails and phone numbers on it, probably the developer studio's, a crimson nerve helmet, I wondered why this was given to me. But most importantly, there was the beta copy of SAO. In it's casing, was encased in a plastic wrapping.

I quickly hooked up my nerve gear, and went through the calibrations. It was tedious. But after about thirty minutes of creating my account, I was in. The game had asked me to make a username, I smirked slyly as I thought of it; Kotani.

The first time I entered the game, everything digitalized around me, becoming more and more real with every second that I watched. A town had encircled me within seconds, and it was huge, almost like a kingdom's main village. Cobblestone paths formed around a large statue, and buildings arose from nothing. Shops and merchant stands popped out of the walls like Bubbles from a wand.

Coming back to my own reality, I touched each one of my fingers to my thumbs, feeling the flesh against flesh, it all felt so real, I couldn't get over it.

My avatar had black hair, like mine it covered his eyes, stormy gray eyes, although mine were brown, and a black set of clothing with leather armor covering me.

I had a basic sword with me, it was seriously nothing special, I could have sworn it was a starting sword in at least three other fantasy RPGs. I unsheathed it and started to play around with it. It was a grey-ish color, with a solid hilt, and a two way cross-guard. I swung it from side to side, it glowed as I took it back, and swung it through the air quickly. It was the first time I had activated a sword skill. And I loved it so much.

I made my way through town, ignoring everyone else and the merchants, I was looking for a quest giver. I pulled up my map of the current floor, and checked the routes, And decided moving to the second town would be best.

On my way to the second town, I encountered various mobs, and it was difficult getting used to this 'Sword Skill' I had almost died, not that it would have bothered me, new game, first death, happens all the time.

I guess the only thing that had kept me alive was this... girl, she had dark red hair, almost like a blood red but not to that point, enticing brown eyes, and a pale complexion. She was about 5'7 ish with black armor, that had a red trim. Her sword seemed to gleam in the sunlight, it was different from the others I had seen today, must have been a mob drop. It was a polished silver looking blade, and a sleek black hilt with no cross-guard.

She approached me, with a confused look in her eyes. She tilted her head trying to act sly, she had obviously been studying me and my actions, "Are you an American? Because you sure as hell don't look Japanese." this question shook me a little bit, I hadn't realized that I hadn't met anyone who wasn't Japanese yet, everything kind of just... Blended together for me. I forgot that SAO's beta had basically been exclusive to Japan.

"Yes, I take it you are as well, considering by the fact that you actually asked me that."

She nodded with a smile, "I'm Flynn, I think we might actually be the only American's in SAO."

I laughed softly, "I'm Brady. Of course we are."

On the walk to the second town, we decided to form a party, we laughed a lot, I told her about my letter to Kayaba, and the extra set of nerve gear that was given to me, "Maybe he likes how interested you are with all of this."

I was still puzzling it together in my mind, "maybe... I'm not sure, how did you get SAO?"

She kept walking and shrugged, "When I got home from school today, I saw this box on my bed. I had applied to join the beta like the others, but my application was rejected due to my location. Although I guess Kayaba had reconsidered. I had received the care package inside of my mail, it was a roughly small box, inside was a set of nerve gear, and the game." I nodded, the same description of the box's content as mine.

We had spent the day together, questing and collecting all the Col we could before I became exhausted from grinding. The clock in my main menu read 6:00 PM, almost time for diner, and my daily jog, "you know, you should add me, just so we could do some dungeon runs maybe tomorrow or something." she nodded and blushed lightly, after all was said and done I said my good byes, and logged out for the day.

I came out of my, only to find my little brother standing over me, I jumped back in my bed, "Dude! Personal space!"

He laughed as he took a step back and regarded me with his little innocent looking eyes, "Sorry brother, I was just curious is all."

I smiled as I stood from my bed and dusted myself off, glad to see someone cares, "Is diner almost ready?" I'm pretty sure he heard me, but he didn't respond, instead he just skipped out of my room and hummed something that sounded like the PokeMon theme. That's the thing about my family, my mom is from Japan, she herself isn't Japanese, but was raised there, both of her parents had lived in America, but had job opportunities there, so my mom grew up around the culture and language, we all speak it and write Japanese fluently. Well, everyone except for my father that is.

I sighed as I put away my NerveGear. I went over to my closet, it was as dull as the rest of my room, just white doors. That's all my room was, apart from all of my posters. It was all just white. White walls and a simple white door. I pulled out my running outfit, a black track jacket and a pair of black joggers. I change in to the outfit, pulled on my running shoes, and headed downstairs, SAO was going to be awesome. 


	2. Chapter 2: My day was good

Update: 2/18: fixed some gramatical errors, separated dialogue, rewrote a few sentences.

My day was good

For the next couple of days, I had ate, slept, dreamed, and played SAO. me and Flynn had been clearing dungeons on the floors with ease, it's like the game had wanted me to do well in it. I was level five when we had reached the base of the tower dungeon on floor 2.

"Honestly speaking, I think we should leave this for tomorrow, what do you think?"

She tilted her head and looked up at the tower, "Well, You're level 8, I'm level 8, if we switch out properly, I think we can clear the dungeon and map the whole thing, how do you feel about that?"

I ran a hand through my hair, pondering this thought, "Are we going to leave the boss room alone?" I began to wonder how the guilds during the beta would handle this room.

"I'm sure the other players could clear it with no problem, you know Kirito can handle it by HIMSELF blindfolded." I laughed at her comment, she was right after all, Kirito was not someone to mess around with, he might have been the strongest beta tester, besides Flynn that is. I had no desire to argue at this point, so I agreed to enter the dungeon.

It was dank in this dungeon, unlike the other one that we were in. And I must say, the mobs were decently difficult. Just learning their attack pattern had almost gotten me killed, which hadn't happened thus far in to the game, and I was grateful for that. The monsters on this floor looked like serpent humanoids, kind of an odd mixture, but nothing out of order for SAO yet.

It seemed that no matter how far up we climbed, the boss room was always higher up. So we kept climbing, switching out when needed. I took forward as usual, she never seemed to let me take it easy, I guess it was for the better.

After about two or so hours of grinding down these mobs, we had finally reached the boss room, the door was a good twenty feet above me, and was steel plated, matching the stone brick castle type theme of the dungeon. "Well, we made it, and as promised, you may log out now, Brady." Flynn mocked a curtsy and smiled at me like a pleased maidan, her hair on either side of her face and het bangs drooping down in the front. It kind of blocked her eyes, and in turn her face, I guess that's what I found funny about it, Because for some reason, I was hysterical.

After my laughing fit, I hugged her and smiled, "PM me tomorrow, alright? Let me know how Kirito fairs."

She nodded and winked, "He won't be doing better than you, I can assure you. I actually have plans to go to a friend's tonight."

I swiped my index finger and my thumb down, leaving a white menu in their wake, I hovered over the settings icon and scrolled down to the log out button. I clicked on it with no hesitation.

After I logged out, I went down stairs to eat dinner with my family, "So, Brady, how goes the beta test?" my mother said to me in between bites.

"Well, it's actually really good, there are so few bugs that I wouldn't be surprised if this was the finished product." I replied with a mouth full of food.

She nodded, and my father chimed in, "I'm so glad that the developers had let you test this game, are you the only American playing it?" I shook my head and told them about Flynn. They took the news in surprise, I'm sure they don't really think of females as gamers.

After dinner was over, I headed up stairs for my shower, I checked my phone before I went in to my room for my clothes, Flynn had emailed me, asking if I could get back on, someone wanted to talk with me.

As I logged in, the world pixilated around me, forming trees, wild animals, the tower dungeon's stone bricks, and the grass, which swayed in the wind. "Hiya," as soon as my body formed, I heard Flynn call, I turned around to find her waving, standing next to a guy in a lab coat, Akahiko Kayaba.

"Kayaba-Sensai" I bowed respectfully, and he raised a hand as if to say 'at ease'

"Hello, Brady, how are you today?" He regarded me as If I was an old friend.

I nodded and smiled, "my day was good, how was yours?"

our small talk didn't last too long before he informed me of the nature of his visit. It lasted about an hour or two, he told me how he had been monitoring my actions throughout the game, and my behavior inside of the nerve gear. "So, I have yet to figure out what is with that red set of Nerve Gear, care to explain?"

He simply smiled and said, "It will be used to connect you to our master server in America. One cannot do with lag compensation in a VRMMO."

After our conversation ended I logged out. it was about 9:00 and I still had to head down to my friend's house, his name is Jacob, for a going away party he was hosting.

I showered up pretty quickly and got dressed with a little bit more decision making involved than when I go to school, I looked in the mirror and smiled, this outfit was going to get me noticed. Red shirt, black jeans, red billed black hat, and a pair of black converse to top it all off.

The walk to his house was nice, first time I had left the house in a while. I arrived before the party started just like I had planned, and my friend's house was huge! He had a pretty high ceiling with a chandelier that was about three feet in diameter. His kitchen was lie that you might see on a cooking show, or in a magazine.

I told him that I couldn't stay too long, and he just laughed at me as he handed me a beer. I couldn't help thinking about Flynn, however, we were talking earlier that day and she said that she was going to a friend's that night, so I didn't think that much of it. Jacob said that only people we knew were showing up tonight. And that's what I liked.

A couple of hours in to the party, I had stopped drinking, I guess I sort of was just not looking to drink tonight. Throught the party I was acting as a sort of security guard, breaking up fights and the such. At about midnight, my friend pulled me aside from everyone else, I'm pretty sure he was wasted at the time, he was stumbling all over the place, he told me that he had someone that he wanted me to meet. I just wanted to humored him for now.

We came to a spot in the back yard, there was this... Girl, she had dark red hair, brown eyes, and a black dress on that had a red trim. "Hey! Flynn! I want you to come over here and meet my friend!"

This was Flynn that I was meeting with? THE Flynn? There was no way that she was the other beta tester, boy was I wrong? she smiled at me, just like how she would in game and said, "Hiya, Brady right?"

I just nodded and smiled, probably looking like a massive fool, "Yeah, yeah, Flynn, if I'm not mistaken. It's good to finally meet you." 


	3. Chapter 3: Show Time

Edit: Feb 18 15 Fixed gramatical errors, separated dialogue

Show Time~

It was the day of launch, something that I could not have waited any longer for. I set up my game so that it should finish downloading Sword Art Online to my PC by the time I had gotten home.

Me and Flynn had coordinated this day since the beta had ended, we exchanged numbers at Jacob's party. As soon as I got home from school, I went upstairs to my room, and flung my backpack across my abode, listening to the light scraping sound it made as it hit the wall. I looked around my room, took in the white walls, the Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and PokeMon posters that littered my room and exhaled in with satisfaction of my gaming career.

Within minutes, my nerve gear was set and calibrated properly. I set my account to the MMO Stream's live footage of the launch. I rested the crimson Nerve helmet on my head, laid down on my bed, closed my eyes, and felt my mind speak the words as if they came from the heart, "Link, Start!"

I was surrounded by a white matrix, with multicolored pillars flying by me, checking the calibrations and network setting of my nerve gear. After calibrations were done, it brought me to a log in screen, where I entered in my information. A small white menu popped up with the name of my character on it Kotani, Welcome back to SAO, use beta character data? I selected the Begin new option, simply because the 'ok' option was not present.

The entire matrix seemed to melt away as I felt my body virtually came in to play. My eyes were still closed. Just to savor the moment, I took in a deep breathe, with the fresh sent of summer time breeze and blossoming Lotus flowers I exhaled. I opened my eyes to a similar looking town square, trees all around myself, a cobblestone floor, large buildings and small shops cluttered the Town of Beginnings. I swiped my index finger and thumb down at the same time, pulling up my menu, I scrolled to the Social tab, and found Add Friend although I was already beat to it. A message appeared on my screen, Hades has sent you a Friend Request, accept? Flynn, she had named her character Hades, and with good reason too. She dropped mobs like the queen of the underworld, her skill with a short sword was unmatched. I pressed my index finger on the small blue circle, meaning 'ok' and was brought back to the Social tab of my menu, I closed it out, and looked around. Trying to spot my red-headed adventure companion. Sadly, she beat me to that as well, she tapped my shoulder and asked ever so innocently, "Who you looking for, Kotani?" I turned around to find her looking just as innocent as she sounded, head tilted and a grin on her face.

Me and Flynn had spent the day getting past the wolves that lay between us and the second town, we had no time to deal with all of those cluttered noobies in the Town of Beginnings. As we ran past boars in our path, I couldn't help but notice how dazzling her eyes looked in this game, I must say she is quite beautiful when she's doing what she enjoys.

We had reached the second town when bells had started to ring from the Town of Beginnings, and within moments, Flynn and I were encased in an envelope of blue, and the next thing I saw was the town square, from the starting area.

Everyone was scattered out around us, some looking frightened, others looking like they had a sense of false confidence, and the rest were just wondering how they had been teleported here. On the other hand, I was excited to see what was about to happen. And I think I'll be the first to admit, I don't want to talk about what HE said. Akihko Kayaba had summoned himself and everyone who was logged in to the game at the time. with a blood red backdrop of security warnings, his face was cloaked, his garbs were the color of blood, similar to the backdrop. A long robe he wore, it had a gold trim. Every night I try to forget what he said, and I don't dare repeat it.

The only thing I found of interest from that event, was the mirror that we had aquired. I hadn't used mine, but I guess everyone felt compelled to. I knew what I looked like, just like my real self. Nothing added, or subtracted from my body what so ever. The same went for Flynn, although I caught her peeking at herself in the mirror, and couldn't help but grin. Flashes of blue spurred from those curious enough to look at themselves. Their true forms took shape in place if their avatars, even Flynn and I. I was a little bit skinner than my original avatar, but past that nothing had changed.

The rest of the day was a blur. I can barely remember anything from it to this day, although, the way back to the second town was easier this time, passing NPCs, quest givers, and small shop owners. All on this quant little cobblestone path.

Flynn and I walked in silence, side by side, hand in hand.

As we reached the gates to the second town, she looked at me and I glanced back at her, she smiled and I knew what she was thinking, "It's magical, isn't it? Us? Inside of a virtual world. I honestly cannot explain how much I have been waiting for this kind of... Opportunity." I said, finally speaking my thoughts. She simply nodded as we entered the town. It was past sun down, yet I wasn't tired. I knew that the nighttime was the time to grind, I was only level 3 currently, and that made me ponder what difficulties lay ahead of us. Although, the thought seemed to stick to my mind like a fly on sticky paper, this game will be cleared.

Four hours, that's how long it took me to reach level five. Not too long, it was only two levels. Three or four quests I had completed during the time, One of the quest rewards was a hood, boy did I love hoods, it was called Wanderer Hood The quest was named Over Yonder It was a simple hack n' slash quest, involving a spider and two wolves, nothing to diverse. "Hey, can we hit an inn or something? I'm getting tired." Flynn called from behind me after finishing off a wolf. She still looked so god damned beautiful in the moon light.

I sheathed my sword and called back, "Sure! Want to stay at the one in ShadowGlave? I hear the innkeeper can give out quests." She smiled and sheathed her longsword on her back, "Shall we?" she turned from me, started to walk softly back in the direction of the town, which wasn't too far away.

The room didn't cost too much for the night only around 9 or ten Col. There were two beds, which was the only thing I had focused on that night. White sheets, white pillows, just the right size. It seemed almost trance like as I got undressed, and seeped in to the bed itself.

That morning, I awoke to Flynn's dark red hair dangling over my face, and I thought that her smile was so bright it voided me, but that was just the sun. "Good morning, Brady. Show Time!" 


	4. Chapter 4: Floor 1

Edit 2/19 separated dialogue, Changed 'Kobalt' to 'Kobald' thanks Artie ;)

Floor 1

It was three days in to the game, and floor 1 had not been cleared yet. What were the beta testers thinking? They should have cleared the floor by now. The Town of Beginnings was cluttered with players, probably too scared to proceed. I didn't blame them, dying was scary enough, although dying in a game? Terrifying.

A loud cry rang through my ears as Flynn split a spider in two, "I'm liking this combat system" she said as she sheathed her sword.

I walked next to her and smiled softly, "As am I. It feels so much smoother than in the beta,"

By the time we had finished our quests, and collected our XP for the day, we found an inn. It wasn't anything too special, but it was an inn none the less. 40 Col for the night. Affordable. The room was small, no larger than my actual bedroom, it had two twin sized beds, a nightstand, and a vanity mirror on the wall opposite of the beds. The walls were all a dull khaki color, and the nightstands were a even duller looking drown.

We each flopped on to our respective beds, "why is it that you think we are here, Brady?"

I was sprawled out on my back, and my eyes were closed, "I'm not sure..."

I could hear the frustration in her voice as she whined, "I'm not sure why Kayaba would actually select us two to beta test, we aren't even Japanese. And why the fuck did he want to talk to you? What makes us so special? And what's with this crimson set of fucking NerveGear?"

I knew the answers to those questions before she asked them. "It's simple," I told her in a relaxed voice, half asleep, "He obviously researched us, or at least me. I'm not sure of your MMORPG history. Each of was was hand picked, the beta testers that is. As for the crimson NerveGear, I'm sure this game wasn't meant to be region locked. So obviously world servers would be spread out in different countries. I'm only guessing that the crimson set is to connect to the dedicated servers that SAO has in place. anything else you were wondering about?" I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling and relaxed my body.

Flynn's voice was small, as if she didn't want to displease me, "What skills did you choose?"

I laughed lightly when she asked, "One-Handed swords and Two-Handed Swords. Obviously. Same as the beta." I sat up on my bed, my back against the wall.

I swiped through my menus and unequipped my armor and weapon leaving only my clothes on, which consisted of a black long-sleeved shirt, and black pants. I turned my head to look at Flynn, she laid there in the same position she had been when we entered the room, like a rock she just sat there. "How do you feel about all of this?"

She turned her head towards me with a questioning look, "What do you mean?" she asked softly

"Well, to me, this is a dream, I love the environment. It's everything I wanted, and a hell of a lot easier than Dark Souls."

She nodded, "It sure is... But still... I mean, it's like..." she sighed. I could tell she was trying to formulate her thoughts in to words "It's just that I want to return home. I want to clear this game, but like everyone else, I don't want to die. I think I'm afraid."

She surely was afraid I could tell just by the look in her eyes, "Flynn, you have nothing to be afraid of, nothing will harm you. This I can asure you. I will never let anything bad come to you. Do you trust me?"

She climbed out of her bed, and curled up next to me in mine, "Obviously I trust you, why else would I ask Jacob to introduce us?" This I knew was fact, she knew me from school. Although we had never met, I guess she found me intriguing. I remember Flynn telling me about the time I had spoken out against the principal's hat policy, and how it made her laugh. It really was a stupid policy though! Our school district wouldn't allow our students to wear their hats backwards in camps, I was a photographer for christ's sakes! My hat was always backwards! I adore hats. I really do.

A few months had pasted since that night, the parties that looked day in and day out looking for the boss room were holding a meeting, it hadn't interested me though. I had just picked up a new sword, it was longer than the sword I had carried since launch, and gleamed like it had a fresh coat of polish on it. It was four feet long, with a cross guard that shrouded my wielding hand, the hilt was nothing special, it was leather wrapped, with silver looking studs. The coolest thing about the sword was it's scaling. A weapons's scaling is determined by the present stat requirements of the weapon, and how high those stats are determines how effective you are with that certain weapon. This sword scaled with my Agility skill, meaning that the faster I made hit combos, the higher the damage dealt. The sword's name was Biter and I could tell why, it was double edged and sharp, I was pretty sure it dealt armor piercing damage too Which was pretty cool by me.

Flynn went to the meeting, I had asked her to. Just to see what cool surprise they had discover, I had hoped it was the boss room. The town that everyone was meeting in, had a quest that gave you a food item for it's reward. The name of the quest eludes me, but I do remember going through a dense forest for herbs. I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that the reward for the quest was just some creme. I could probably have bought that off of a merchant or something. However, I do always appreciate EXP and Col.

"Hey! Brady!" I heard Flynn's voice call out from behind me, I turned around to see what she was yelling about, but before I could say anything, she tackled me to the floor, and we skid for about a foot or two.

I couldn't stop laughing for the life of me, "Flynn! Stop this infernal rough housing and get off of me!" I finally seemed to calm down and she climbed off and stood her herself up and held out her hand for me to grab, I did and it felt so real. Just the way the sensors react to touch in this game amazed me. I stood up with her help, and found her giggling.

"How has your day been?" she asked with a smile.

I took in a deep breathe and exhaled, "My day has been full of disappointing quest rewards and terrible monster loot."

"More spider silk?" she asked. I just sighed and nodded. I could tell that she was stifling a laugh. And I couldn't help but laugh a little bit myself.

"So. Why are you so happy? What happened at the meeting?"

She filled me in on most of the details about how Kibaou made a big deal of the beta testers, and how Agail stood up for us all, "It was rather funny if you ask me." she then told me about how they had discovered the boss room, and I fist pump in my mind.

She then told me about that other eta tester, Kirito, I guess he was there too. "When everyone started forming parties, instead of approaching a big group, he formed one with a girl who had a odd looking brown cloak, then went off towards the town with her." I nodded taking all of this information in, "So I take it you want us in the raid?" I had silently prayed that she would say yes.

"Obviously, the first floor must be our first memory of this place, we are going for the raid tomorrow morning, around ten-ish."

-The night passes-

I woke up, and yawned immediately, almost sending myself back to sleep. I resisted the urge, and sat up. "Flynn, you up? Almost time for the raid." within a minute, all of my gear was strapped and ready to go, my hood lay resting on my shoulders. Flynn made what sounded to be a groan as she dragged herself out of bed, hair looking like a porcupine that was just hit by a semi-truck. Still, to me, she was beautiful.

"Today had better be worth the trip up that dungeon," Flynn threatened as she equipped her leather armor set over her normal clothing. Her sword came next, strapped to her back, a longsword. Looked like mine, except for the fact that it was single edged, and a duller looking grey instead of a polished silver.

We walked out of the Inn without speaking to much, just the simple 'How did you sleep?' type stuff. "I dreamt that I was home, and SAO wasn't like this. We could come and go as we pleased. We had lots of friends, and even formed a guild." She spoke as if in a trance, enticed by the words she spoke, like a goal of hers.

"It won't be a dream someday. Someday we will be able to come and go as we please. And we will have all of our friends in a guild, I promise."

The trip in to the boss' keep was nothing, in fact, I found it rather relaxing. The cosmo-esc theme that all of these low level boss rooms held was amazing. All these different colors streamed by in an attempt to collide with each other. Red, purple, yellow, white. The variation seemed to never fade.

The larger party groups all dealt with the mobs that littered the dungeon with ease. They were all parties of at least 6, making switching out with each other almost unfair for the monster. One person would parry an incoming attack, and the others would charge the beast. It was very efficient in it's own sense. Me and Flynn hung back, not wanting to aggro anything yet. I remembered the last attack bonus for Illfang from the beta, I think it was a cape? Or a cloak maybe. Either way, it wasn't worth my efforts. People in the raid group had started talking about beta testers. Like they were a bad thing. I didn't get it, we were players all the same.

My thoughts were drowned out by cheers and shouts of victory, I pushed my way to the front to see what was happening. we had arrived.

A knight with blue armor and matching hair walked up to the doors first, "The only thing I have to say is... Lets's win!" the crowd exploded in cheers and smack talk towards the game. The first group, group A they were called, pushed open the doors. The boss' room resembled that of a large cathedral. Four stone pillars stood in the center of the room, and there stood the boss. Illfang, The Kobald Lord had four health bars, and was indeed, a very large Kobald.

Mine and Flynn's job was simply to keep the ruined Kobald sentinels off of the main raid group. Me and Flynn were about to charge in when I had spotted a player who seemed to be alone, there was no way that I would let him go at these sentinels alone. I rushed up to him and grabbed his shoulder, he turned around to face me, with a questioning look on his face. He had medium long hair, it was a dirty blonde, almost a light brown. His light green eyes seemed to twinkle in the cosmos lighting of the cathedral. "You need something buddy?" He sounded decently arrogant, and I was starting to second guess myself about my decision.

"Yeah, are you solo?" I asked.

He nodded and gave me a charismatic smile, "None of the other groups had room for me, and there was no way I was going to miss this fight for the world!"

I smiled and asked him if he would like to join my party, then told him about the security detail we were to hold. With some thought, he nodded and I sent him a party invite. Within seconds, a third health bar appeared on my screen. Cole was his name. It seemed to suit his character style. Flynn joined us not a second later and introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Flynn. And I appreciate the invite to the party, I would have gotten destroyed on my own." we laughed at that as we entered the boss room with the others. Cole's clothing was different from the others, he had a white coat, almost like a duster, on the back was a bird that was on fire, probably an Eagle. He had on a grey shirt and no visible body armor. Blue jeans and grey boots that went up his calfs half way. He had a longsword on his back that was black, and had a long cross guard protecting the users hilt. It's hilt was wrapped in leather, bound by a single black stud at the bottom of hilt.

The first two minutes of the first, I spent learning the sentinels attack patterns. Slash, slash, thrust. It would jump backward if, when aggroed, you tried to circle behind them. The next thirty minutes we spent switching in and out, when one would parry, the others would attack. "Asuna! Switch with me!" I heard Kirito yelling to his partner, Asuna was her name I could only assume. Kirito was even more so Fearsome in a fight than what I imagined.

The fight was going better than expected, until the boss' last health bar dripped in to the red zone. He bellowed and the attack groups backed up, I heard someone yell something at the others, I guess he was going for that last attack bonus. The entire crowd fell silent as Illfang unsheathed a large sword. It resembled a large version of your basic butcher's knife. The only differance was the length of the blade, it was at most ten feet long. No cross guard, and a bare hilt. The knight that had spoken before we entered the room had taken charge upon the monster. he was a beta tester, he knew the risks. He got batted away from the beast and flew twenty feet towards the right side wall. Kirito rushed to his side and tried to use a potion of healing to mend the fallen knight's wounds. Within seconds the knight had shattered. He was gone.

Kirito and Asuna rush forward after this, and began to attack the boss with lightning speed. Leaving me to take over their job. It was no bother, I could parry and slash at these guys all day long. Cole and Flynn sat back and dealt with our load, they also seemed to not have difficulties with their opposition.

After two minutes of soloing the Kobalds, I heard a sharp sound, like glass breaking against a tile floor. I kicked away the last if the sentinels and peered over my shoulder to see Kirito standing in the middle of the room. Cheers and shouts aroused from the crowd, until the one whom I believed to be Kibaou stood up and started yelling at Kirito. Something about him being a cheater. I didn't pay too much attention, I was busy distributing my points between my stats, I had just leveled up again.

As soon as I had finished, Flynn and Cole came over to me, Cole rested one of his hands on my shoulder, "Come on, we're going to watch group A link the teleportation gate!"

The thought of us actually clearing a level in this game brought great satisfaction to my heart. I couldn't help but give a smile, "Obviously we are going to watch that. In the beta, the display was amazing! All of the colors that pop up, my my."

We entered the second floor, and I took in the scenery, flowers bloomed as we took our first steps on the grass. Buildings rose in the distance, and paths presented themselves. The town we had spawned in looked beautiful. The market that hugged the streets were littered with fresh foods galore, I turned to face my party members, and smirked, "This is going to be a cake walk."

And truly, I felt that it was going to be a cake walk, I like cake. 


	5. Chapter 5: The Guild

The Guild.

For the next few weeks, nothing really occurred. The floor two boss fight was simple enough. A pretty basic attack pattern. I could have easily taken the beast out by myself. The one on floor three was no different, or at least, that's what I'm told. I wasn't actually present for that floor raid. Well, I wasn't there for the majority of them, I was too bust questing, constantly trying to better my stats. I had Flynn and Cole attend them, however.

December 23 came around. It would be the first Christmas that Aincrad would hold. To others it may be depressing, but to me, it was magical.

I had spoken to a member of the assault team, all of the best parties were starting to create guilds. I had spoken to one of the solo members of the assault team, his name was Mizunoken, I asked him if he would be interested in going a guild if I made one, he was a good swordsman, and I felt like he could use a team to run with. He seemed nice enough anyways. At this moment, he had on a long sleeved green shirt and a pair of dark blue pants, almost navy I would say. He had black hair, it was shaggy and long, ran past his ears and covered his eyes. His eyes almost looked red, or maybe it was my imagination. He was Japanese, like everyone else in the game. There was something... Different that set him apart from the others though, he was shy, he rejected my offer at first, but I insisted upon multiple attempts and he eventually took up my offer. Whenever he looked at me, it was as I'd he was studying me, like a frog that was about to be dissected, it was obvious to me that he could read body language, "So, what are we going to call ourselves?" he asked as he played with his gloves. Me and Flynn had discussed this previously, making a guild, And decided that our name should Raid Intentions. Simply for the fact that this was going to be an assault team, maybe not a big on, but it certainly was to be one of it's own.

I had some members in mind, and I had wanted to get the guild officiated before Christmas. Eight members in all was my goal. Mizunoken had agreed to help me set it up, he was probably the nicest player I have met who wasn't hell bent on leaving. He told me that he would try to find members himself, and I was thankful for that.

Me and Flynn sat at our room on an inn on floor five, discussing the guild. I was to create the guild, and appoint her my co-leader. I swiped open my menu by pinching my index finger and thumb together, and swiping down. I moved my index finger over the Guild tab and selected Create Guild a white text bar appeared in front of me, and it asked me to present a name, obviously speaking for the guild, I smiled as I entered the keys. Within a minute, I was the leader and founder of Raid Intentions. I went through my friend's list, and selected the people in my party, along with Mizunoken. I was feeling pretty confident about this whole 'guild' thing. I felt as if I could help some people, some day.

Author's note!

Hey guys, or girls, I don't judge. I'm super sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I've been super busy lately and am currently booked this entire week. But that won't stop me from putting out chapters. Every other day. I hope xD anyways, in case you haven't noticed, this chapter introduces Mizunoken (Souma Aquifina - Yulli K.). And for those of you who weren't aware of who was introduced last time, His character was Cole (Dragon Slayer 41). Recently, I updated chapter 1. I'm probably gonna re do chapters as I see fit. But other than that, have a good day! :) 


	6. Chapter 6: The Mercenary

The Mercenary.

All of them are strange to me. Each and everyone of them, that's why I choose them. Because they are different. They all want to survive. Like me.

Mercenary work is always tiresome. At least, that's how I see it. I'm not really the kind of guy who pays attention to mercs all that much.

Floor 7 was the most difficult so far. I was leading the raid group this time, we were under manned. Not too badly. Although I figured that hiring one or two more mercenaries for the job wouldn't be too bad. Most of them hung around the town of beginnings like it was a pub. So, off I went it search of one.

The moment I stepped in to the Town of Beginnings, I instantly remembered everything that happened on the day of launch. I saw kids playing in the street, they had probably logged in with a parent of guardian, and welder being watched by the daycare that the town had hosted. The streets were narrow. The alleys were narrower. Lined up with cobblestone the roads go forth in to every direction. Player merchants peddled gear and rare items at an expensive price. The aroma of bread filled the streets, making me a little bit hungry. Flynn told me that she'll have dinner ready by the time me and Cole got home. "You think the guy we're looking for will be here?" Cole regarded me as we entered the town. "Yes, he should be. Just look for the orange mercenary." When I said that, Cole became more unsure of our journey I was sure, "Do you think his outfit is orange, or his cursor?" I silently hoped that if this was the mercenary I was told about, his cursor would be orange, and not his outfit. "I'm not sure Cole, we'll see when we get there."

The town square was exactly like how I remembered it to be. The entire place was filled with players. Some were laying around on the benches, others were trying to negotiate for better deals with the shop keepers, then were the players that lined the walls, completely geared with the best items from the current floor dungeons. Within seconds I spotted the player who I was looking for, the orange player. Orange cursor, black hair, and the black coat. Just like he was described to me.

"Hey Brady, is that the guy?" I only smiled and nodded at his question, for we were about to meet the best mercenary in all of Aincrad.

"fifteen hundred Col is my starting price," his hair went down to his shoulders, and covered the majority of the left side of his face. Hiding his brown eyes. There was a slight glint in them, like he had seen a lot so far over the course of this past year.

"You're Daemon, if I'm correct. Which if I am, then I know about your cursor. And just exactly who you are." I had heard so much about this character, 'Daemon'. He wielded a katana is his right hand, customary for someone of his type. He had on grey boots, long dark pants, and fingerless gloves. He wasn't exactly the sort of tank type samurai that you would expect a katana wielder to be, he was more like the agile stealth type. I bet his sneak was decently high.

He regarded me as if I had said something that made him sick, "What could you POSSIBLY know about me? My cursor? So what. PKs happen, it's a part of the game weather you like it or not. It's just the circle of life."

With that said, I knew that he was who I was looking for. He was the kind of guy to say one thing to protect something else. "You haven't PK'd yet. Your cursor is orange, not red. It's obvious to me who you are simply because I have spoken with some of your previous clients." he crossed his arms in front of me and looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching us, he nodded and without looking at me said, "Ok, follow me, we need to talk."

I did as was instructed of me. This was not someone who I would want to displease yet. We followed him in to a familiar alleyway. It was dank, filled with shadows from the two buildings that Blocked the sun. Before we entered, Daemon did a double take, and made sure we weren't followed. As soon as he was positive that the coast was clear, he turned to Cole and I, he bowed respectfully, "I am Daemon, but you already know this. Might I ask who you and your associate are?" I returned the bow, as was custom in his culture, he respected mine by speaking my language, and I will respect him by honoring his greeting, "I am Kotani, of Raid Intentions. This is one of my members and trusted friend, Cole." Cole bowed at the mention of his name, "It is a pleasure to have you speak with us."

"Anyways, Daemon, I have come to you because I have been alerted by colleagues of mine that you are the best when it comes to hired help. Is that true?" he nodded with a smile, "I can do anything, and will do anything. For the proper price, that is. Even if that includes PKing. But I try my hardest not to, if possible."

"Care to explain your cursor to me? I have heard numerous stories, but I would like to hear it from the horse's mouth. So to speak." he shifted his position, leaning against the wall, "Of course. Everyone want's to know about it."

"It was just another job," he started, "Something was stolen from my client, a sword he had gotten from a monster drop had been... Misplaced... From his guild's storage. It didn't seem like anything special, it wasn't really, but he was paying me good money to find and kill the thief." he patted his sides, I'm guessing to check the contents of them. "it only took me two days to find him, I can't even remember his in game name anymore. He was younger than ms, obviously just wanting something cooler looking than his barbed longsword."

"So, once you've found him, what did you do?" I only ask because Cole had not heard the story, and had wanted him to hear just exactly what this mercenary was about.

"I stabbed him. Just once, I spared his life, he was no threat to anyone. I went orange immediately. In return for sparing his life, he gave me the sword, and I went on my way." he pulled at the cuffs on his coat, readjusting them for his comfort. "The pay I received was substantially good. 15 thousand. That's ten times what I typically charge. He said that it was better that I didn't kill him. And that it was dumb of him to ask me to do such."

I nodded slowly and turned my head slightly to look at Cole, and a silent agreement came over us. "So, 15 hundred? We want you to join our raid party for the boss fight at the end of this month. Can you do that?"

Daemon had thought for a little bit, before smiling and extending a hand, "I'll do it for free, this time. As long as I can join your guild. And you call me whenever you need my help!" I returned the smile and shook his hand with excitement, "Of course. And by no means are you restricted to us, you can work freely as you see fit." he swiped open his menu, and scrolled down to what I would assume was his friend's list, only because a request had popped up on mine and Cole's screens. I accepted mine, and invited Daemon to the guild.

After he accepted, a tiny 'congratulations' message appeared on the left side of my screen alerting me that Daemon had accepted my request.

Daemon was the type of person I was sure that I had wanted on my guild's roster. Someone who looks out for others, and knows how to handle himself.

Only four more members before the boss fight, only 16 more days until the thirty first. 


End file.
